Trip To Kerala

[vijay]

Friends, we group of friends three couples with kids tobe precise are planning a trip down south to kerela.
Our itenery as of now is that we have booked tickets from ahmedabd to ahmedabad and we are reaching trivendram first and returning from cochin.
Can you guys help us in planning our itenery from trivendram to cochin,which places shall we cover and how many days should be spend there.
Either on 26th or 27th of April we may land at Trivendram, as we have two set to tickets where one is confirmed and is via deroute,another one is yet tobe confirmed which is a direct train.
Its a first trip to kerela so please do pour in your valuable inputs.
Thankyou.

 

[SankarNarayanan]

Re: Trip to Kerela

Friends, we group of friends three couples with kids tobe precise are planning a trip down south to kerela.
Our itenery as of now is that we have booked tickets from ahmedabd to ahmedabad and we are reaching trivendram first and returning from cochin.
Can you guys help us in planning our itenery from trivendram to cochin,which places shall we cover and how many days should be spend there.
Either on 26th or 27th of April we may land at Trivendram, as we have two set to tickets where one is confirmed and is via deroute,another one is yet tobe confirmed which is a direct train.
Its a first trip to kerela so please do pour in your valuable inputs.
Thankyou.

Hi Vijay,

I am born and bought up in Trivndrum. Now i am employed in an IT firm in Trivandrum. Do let me know how many days you plan to stay here in Kerala and i shall make a detail plan for your entire trip in Kerala.

Regards,
Sankar

 

[Rajvel]

Re: Trip to Kerela

Friends, we group of friends three couples with kids tobe precise are planning a trip down south to kerela.
Our itenery as of now is that we have booked tickets from ahmedabd to ahmedabad and we are reaching trivendram first and returning from cochin.
Can you guys help us in planning our itenery from trivendram to cochin,which places shall we cover and how many days should be spend there.
Either on 26th or 27th of April we may land at Trivendram, as we have two set to tickets where one is confirmed and is via deroute,another one is yet tobe confirmed which is a direct train.
Its a first trip to kerela so please do pour in your valuable inputs.
Thankyou.

Tiruvandrum to cochin
You can cover the most beautiful place known as Allepey.
1 night at boat house there.more places are tgere.

 

[vijay]

Re: Trip to Kerela

Thankyou guys for the inputs and request to mods to edit the spell for kerala and not kerela was typed from my mobile yesterday night and couldnt recheck it.
Sankar well the overall itenery is planned for 9 nights and 10 days starting from trivendram to cochin.
What we are been suggested by most of the tour operators are
2 nights at kovalam
1 night at alleppey
1 night at kumarakom
1 night at thekkady
2 nights at munnar
1 night at cochin

Now aleppey and kumarakom are known for the backwaters and houseboats so shall we skip either of the place or shall take both of these.
Second have heard at khekkady the periyar lake is been closed and also wild life sanctuary, inputs for the same please.

 

[SankarNarayanan]

Re: Trip to Kerela

Thankyou guys for the inputs and request to mods to edit the spell for kerala and not kerela was typed from my mobile yesterday night and couldnt recheck it.
Sankar well the overall itenery is planned for 9 nights and 10 days starting from trivendram to cochin.
What we are been suggested by most of the tour operators are
2 nights at kovalam
1 night at alleppey
1 night at kumarakom
1 night at thekkady
2 nights at munnar
1 night at cochin

Now aleppey and kumarakom are known for the backwaters and houseboats so shall we skip either of the place or shall take both of these.
Second have heard at khekkady the periyar lake is been closed and also wild life sanctuary, inputs for the same please.

2 night's at Kovalam is waste of time and most importantly money. Everything is very cpstly in Kovalam because they target foreign tourist.

Alternatively you can stay in other hotels in Trivanrum which provide much better room's at less cost. Then you can visit Kovalam beach and spend time there and return back to Hotel.

Things to see in Trivandrum are

1) Padmanabha Swami Temple - 2Hrs (Darshan on special timing only)
2) Kuthiramalika Palace very near to Padmanabha Swami Temple - 2Hrs
3) Veli Lake - 3Hrs
4) Kovalam Beach - 3Hrs

All the above can be covered in a day. So 2 day's is a waste in Trivandrum. With a day saved in Trivandrum can be spend on Poovar which is about 50kms from Trivandrum. It's a very scenic place with lots of resorts which offer good food, pools and boat rides into poovar lake.

Also visiting both Alleppey and Kumarakom is not recommended as both have the same black water to see. Also Alleppey is very congested now with huge number of Houseboats. You can visit Kumarakom which is not crowded will be very refreshing for you and family.

Rest of plan seems to be ok to me. PM me if you are interested and i shall PM you my number and i shall arrange everything for you.

Regards,
Sankar

 

[vijay]

Sankar, thankyou mate for the feedbacks and what about thekkady as i asked before is it worth going after the lake thats been closed down and wild life sanctuary as well????

 

[SankarNarayanan]

Sankar, thankyou mate for the feedbacks and what about thekkady as i asked before is it worth going after the lake thats been closed down and wild life sanctuary as well????

Will check on this and let you know by tomorrow. How are you planning to go from Trivandrum to all these places? Have you booked a car?

Regards,
Sankar

 

[vijay]

Under process thru a travel agent over here from trivendram to cochin, thought it would be cochin to cochin for the fares but thats how it sounds as of now, not confirmed it yet.
Wanted to know how fare it would be to book our hotels on own rather then going thru agents as their commission would be added at every hotel and at the traveling vehicle.

 

[SankarNarayanan]

Under process thru a travel agent over here from trivendram to cochin, thought it would be cochin to cochin for the fares but thats how it sounds as of now, not confirmed it yet.
Wanted to know how fare it would be to book our hotels on own rather then going thru agents as their commission would be added at every hotel and at the traveling vehicle.

No don't use Travel agents. Booking on your own is good and you have lots of options while agents will only book at hotel which give them good commission.

For info on Thekkady please contact KDTC in the number 0471-2721243/2721245

Also go through KTDC website :- http://www.ktdc.com/

Regards,
Sankar

 

[vijay]

Thankyou mate, what we are looking at is the options these travel agents gives us, as along with their quotes we have asked for the hotels details along, so can enquiry directly as well with what offers they give us as well.

 

[SankarNarayanan]

Thankyou mate, what we are looking at is the options these travel agents gives us, as along with their quotes we have asked for the hotels details along, so can enquiry directly as well with what offers they give us as well.

Let me know which all Hotel the travel agent quotes you. I shall also look at good hotel in all the places you plan to visit. Also let me know how much the taxi rates the agent quotes you. I know a Taxi operator who has couple of Innova and other cars and he might give you a much lower quote.

Regards,
Sankar

 

[vijay]

Well a roughly they are blocking some 1200kms for the entire journey cochin to cochin though we would be picked up from trivendram, and roughly 20k for the tavera/innova A/c

 

[SankarNarayanan]

Well a roughly they are blocking some 1200kms for the entire journey cochin to cochin though we would be picked up from trivendram, and roughly 20k for the tavera/innova A/c

For 1200km trip 20k is a bit on high side

If you want i shall check with that guy and let you know how much he will charge. Actually he does cab duties for SBT where my mom work. That how i know him. Let me know if i need to check with him.

Regards,
Sankar

 

[JohnyBoy]

Vijay,
First of all, welcome to Kerala. Like Sankar, I’m also from Trivandrum.

A couple of suggestions, if you have not finalised your itinerary.

1. It looks like you are planning to stay in 6 different places. That’s bad. You will feel tired after the 9 days and you would need another vacation to recover . Vacations are for relaxation and enjoying the stay. You should be staying at max 3 places for the 9 day. Considering you land in Trivandrum and board the flight back from Kochi, you cannot avoid staying at these locations. May be another 2 more. So overall 4 places x 2 days each would be better. Here is what I suggest.
a. 2 nights at Trivandrum – the day you land don’t do anything, just go to the hotel and relax. Let the kids run around and you have a relaxed dinner and couple of drinks if you like. Next day you can go to Kanyakumari. It is 90Km from Trivandrum, it is in Tamilnadu, but it can be considered in a Kerala trip. You can see the meeting point of 3 seas, Vivekananda Memorial in the sea (go by a ferry), the famous Kanyakumari Devi temple etc. You can buy some souvenirs / toys for your kids there – mostly made of sea shells. You can complete this in a day in a relaxed manner. Next day you can do a Trivandrum city tour as Sankar suggested. You may add zoo to the list, which is really good.
b. 2 nights in Alapuzha (Alleppy), may be in a house boat. There are few good beaches there.
c. 2 nights in Munnar – enjoy the tea plantations.
d. 2 nights in Kochi – I really don’t know much. You can visit Lulu Mall (recently opened, claiming to be the largest Mall in India) and if you are religious, you can visit Guruvayoor temple (2nd most famous temple in Kerala, after Sabarimala). It is about 100Km from Kochi.
May be Sankar or anyone else can give you more ideas on what to do in Alapuzha and Kochi.

2. Your travel agent is right about Kovalam. It is beautiful. You should stay at KTDC Samudra hotel. The private beach they have is amazing, I have not seen a better beach front anywhere else. It is going to be costly. I think in May it will be off-season, even then it will cost about 6,000 per room per night. I know Sankar was advising against Kovalam because of the cost. But it is worth, if you have the budget.

Enjoy your trip. Do share your experience and photos.

 

[SankarNarayanan]

Vijay,
First of all, welcome to Kerala. Like Sankar, I’m also from Trivandrum.

A couple of suggestions, if you have not finalised your itinerary.

1. It looks like you are planning to stay in 6 different places. That’s bad. You will feel tired after the 9 days and you would need another vacation to recover . Vacations are for relaxation and enjoying the stay. You should be staying at max 3 places for the 9 day. Considering you land in Trivandrum and board the flight back from Kochi, you cannot avoid staying at these locations. May be another 2 more. So overall 4 places x 2 days each would be better. Here is what I suggest.
a. 2 nights at Trivandrum – the day you land don’t do anything, just go to the hotel and relax. Let the kids run around and you have a relaxed dinner and couple of drinks if you like. Next day you can go to Kanyakumari. It is 90Km from Trivandrum, it is in Tamilnadu, but it can be considered in a Kerala trip. You can see the meeting point of 3 seas, Vivekananda Memorial in the sea (go by a ferry), the famous Kanyakumari Devi temple etc. You can buy some souvenirs / toys for your kids there – mostly made of sea shells. You can complete this in a day in a relaxed manner. Next day you can do a Trivandrum city tour as Sankar suggested. You may add zoo to the list, which is really good.
b. 2 nights in Alapuzha (Alleppy), may be in a house boat. There are few good beaches there.
c. 2 nights in Munnar – enjoy the tea plantations.
d. 2 nights in Kochi – I really don’t know much. You can visit Lulu Mall (recently opened, claiming to be the largest Mall in India) and if you are religious, you can visit Guruvayoor temple (2nd most famous temple in Kerala, after Sabarimala). It is about 100Km from Kochi.
May be Sankar or anyone else can give you more ideas on what to do in Alapuzha and Kochi.

2. Your travel agent is right about Kovalam. It is beautiful. You should stay at KTDC Samudra hotel. The private beach they have is amazing, I have not seen a better beach front anywhere else. It is going to be costly. I think in May it will be off-season, even then it will cost about 6,000 per room per night. I know Sankar was advising against Kovalam because of the cost. But it is worth, if you have the budget.

Enjoy your trip. Do share your experience and photos.

I totally agree with John on his suggestion even though i would like to make some changes.

1) On the way to Kanyakumari is a place called Susheendram where they have a awesome temple. The temple has a huge chariot which are used for festivals. Also Temple has a huge Hanuman idol which is said to be over 100 feet in height. Do visit this place if you are religious. Also Padmanabhapuram palace is located on the way to Kanyakumari which is a must visit place. Do remember the palace is open only from 10am-4pm only so you need to plan your trip to Kanyakumari carefully.

2) Don't say in Kovalam as things at Kovalam are way to costly than fron other parts of Trivandrum. Cost of food from small hotels will rival those of 5 star hotels located in other parts of Trivandrum. Even in off season the price of one chappathi is 40rs and 1 chicken curry is 280rs and i am talking about a small hotel which obviously has good sea view and probably the reason why they charge this much. I would suggest staying in main stream hotels in Trivandrum and visting Kovalam beach at night as its a waste spending the whole day in Koavalam beach as their are other beautiful things to see in Trivandrum.

3) You can also visit Poovar which has awesome lake and beautiful locations for an relaxed experience of Kerala's Black waters. Addition to this Poovar has some world class resorts like

a) Isola Di Cocco - index

b) Estuary Islands - Luxury Beach Resort & Hotels in Poovar Trivandrum - Estuary Island

c) Poovar Island Resorts - Kerala Resort | Official Site of Poovar Island Resort | Kerala Ayurveda Resort

4) No need of 2 days in Kochi as their are more good places to see in Kerala than malls i guess and Lulu mall is just opened and from my friends who stay near to mall says traffic jams are so heavy on the way to mall that it takes 2 hours to reach mall during weekends. I would rather suggest going to Kumarakam where you will find good houseboats with all facilities and the scenic, calm black water experience fo Kerala. I would suggest houseboats of Kumarakam as their are huge number of house boats in Kollam and Allapuzha and it's a bit crowded their. After all it's the same black water in Kollam Kumarakam and Allapuzha (Allepey).

Do let me know if you need any help on your trip and i shall be gld to help.

Regards,
Sankar